


Sometimes

by MultipleLevels



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, OC???, Please excuse my bad writing, The word of the day is sometime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-07-10 15:14:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6990673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MultipleLevels/pseuds/MultipleLevels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Sometimes I wonder what it's like to be free,<br/>In this lifetime,<br/>I'm not gonna say it but,<br/>You're really got this backwards,"<br/>Blasticate - All Levels At Once</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sometimes

**Author's Note:**

> Go listen to the song, it doesn't go with the fic but it's still great.

Months pass, weeks pass, even days pass. It’s not hard to see why Neku can’t help but remember  _ him _ . It’s hard to not see him all around, in Shibuya. After all, what kind of a Composer would  _ he _ be if  _ he _ didn’t show in his creation?

 

♭

 

Sometimes Neku would see _him_ , in the crowds and crowds of people, littering Shibuya and giving it life. For a split second, Neku would see _him_ , just among the massive amount of people. Sometimes looking at him, sometimes not. He would see  _ him _ at Hachiko, but only when he was alone, and not with his friends, and around Cat Street and Dogenzaka, and especially near Udagawa’s back streets.

But he’d blink, and  _ he _ would be gone. It baffled Neku, how  _ he _ could tease him with his presence, still a much of an annoyance as _he_ was when they first met.

 

♮

 

 

Sometimes a cat would come to Neku. It was a stray, with dankly black fur, and a large knick in its right ear. It had no collars or tags, and it made Neku wonder if it had been born on the streets or was once someone’s pet. It’d purr and rub up to Neku, who took it in, but found it had left the next day, only to find it hours later, cleaning the last bit of broth off its muzzle, just outside of Ramen Don.

Neku took a liking to it, and had given it a name. Ink, after the murky color of its pelt. He guessed it might’ve been a messenger from  _ him _ , with the way it came and went like magic, and always seemed to recognize and find Neku.

Ink would bring him gifts, sometimes a dead bird or mouse, once it even brought a half-eaten crow, but, occasionally it brought him pins. Pins from the UG, the exact same ones he used in the Reaper’s Game. The pins had no value, no use, but held a special sort of commemoration, neither good nor bad.

 

♯

 

Sometimes Neku would see _him_ in the stars, at night. People would still call out from all around him and signs glow everbright, Shibuya still abuzz with energy at the darkest hours. Neku’s eyes would shift up to the glittering sky above, drawing him out. Sometimes he would go out and sit in the quieter places of Shibuya, places of peace, and stare at the stars until he drifted off, showing up in his bed when he awoke. Other times he would just stay in his apartment, or go up to the roof, and gaze from there.

He wondered what the sky would look like from the roof of Pork City. Neku thought it might be so high up you’d be able to touch the stars, feeling their individual warmth, all special and unique. 

 

 

♮

 

Sometimes, Neku felt like he was being imprinted. It was whenever he didn’t bring his Player’s Pin with him, the only pin Ink didn’t return to him. He’d find his mind wander to  _ him _ , sometimes more than that too.

He didn’t dare mention it to his friends, none of them except Rhyme remembered the long game. The both of them confided in each other their fears about the long game, but even something like  _ him _ might be something too large for Rhyme to bear, so he kept his mouth sealed shut about it.

Neku would catch himself thinking about  _ him _ , and would just sigh and think up a few insults for  _ him _ , but not skipping a beat in his stride to wherever he pleased. A freedom that’d been taken during the Reaper’s Game, which he resented during those three weeks.

 

♭

 

_ “Mrowr.” _

Neku looked up, hearing the mewl over his music. He slips his headphones onto his neck, feeling the cool metal touch the nape of his neck. He set his pencil down on the desk in front of him.

Ink was sitting in front of him, something held in its small jaws. It turned its head to the side, almost owl-like. It brought a rare smile to Neku’s face as it stood up, setting the item in Neku’s now outstretched hand. It was a note. The paper was damp with saliva, probably from Ink, but it was still legible.

‘Meet me on top of the 104 Building. Fail and face erasure. - C’

Neku rolled his eyes, his eyes moving to his window, to the 104 Building in the distance, the reflection of ads still running on loop shone off buildings. Did it ever shut off, even for repairs?

He gave a quick rub to Ink, almost a thank you to the feline for its efforts in giving Neku the message.

 

♮

 

“You came?” _His_ voice is almost confused, like he expected Neku to completely bail on him.

Neku didn’t say anything, just taking in the sights and sounds of it all. It was amazing he had even the thought of getting on top of the 104 Building, much less how he would scale it. Joshua looked almost the same as during the long game, minus the wings that sprouted from his back, and much more feathery-looking hairstyle.

Neku couldn’t hear the low rumble of Shibuya under them, the murmur of the never-ending crowds and electronics. It was only his heartbeat, his breaths, and Joshua.

 

 

He could see things in Joshua. The twinkling lights that seemed to light up his pale skin, and glittered in his lidded, amethyst eyes. Neku could see the almost cat-like wiles that Joshua had about him, and how his face looked like nothing he had seen in another, and probably never will.

How Shibuya’s Composer lie in waiting, for his response.

“Yeah.”

The thoughtful expression on Joshua’s face changed to a much more sly one, and Neku knew it would go downhill from there.

“That’s all you have to say, to your great and powerful Composer?” Joshua smirks.

“I didn’t get even a hello, or get to see you for the past few months. But that’s just par for the course,” He responds with ease.

“You wound me, dear. I haven’t had any time to see you, after all.”

“Yeah right. I’ve seen enough of your presence around me to know that you’ve had enough time to stalk me,” Neku bites.

“Oh-ho? You say that like I haven’t left an indentation on  _ my _ city.”

It dawns on Neku that Joshua might not be lying.  

Neku rolls his eyes again, “‘Guess I might not’ve thought about that.”

“Oh Neku, guess you haven’t changed at all.”


End file.
